Kitsune-hime
The Basics *'Name:' Kitsune-hime, Lady Sage of the Unknown Reaches, Empress in Scarlet, Monarch of the Court of the Brush. *'Age:' 18ish *'Occupation:'Pretty freeloader, Couch Surfer, Court Monarch History The Shadow Dragon's Wife Once upon a time there was a young Japanese American girl who upon her teen years became obsessed with doing occult stuff as many children of the 90s were. The girl's name is lost in time, but as she played at new age summoning and old Japanese superstitions she caught the attention of one of the Others. He took the form and the name of a the Shadow Dragon. He told her he could take her to a world of magic and fantasy, a world where she could be his grandious wife. Like many people who do not know any better she accepted. The Shadow Dragon made good on his offer.. but he required more than love more than romance in his paramour for sex was as much the hunt for the monster... so he must hunt his wives as beasts. Through her cunning and luck she ended up the form of a Fox and time and again she was spared while less cunning beasts were taken... Challenge of the Western Blade The Shadow Dragon had many wives over the years and they all were worse for it. Some had escaped. Only one ever came back. Her's was a beauty found only in paintings. She wore nothing but a simple tunic, her blade now that was special. It was forged of the Righteousness of man, such was never seen before in the lands of Arcadia. With this blade and her skill she returned to the Dragon's land and struck him to take all his would be wives all his prey past and future. By her act the Fox was freed to be a girl once more. This is what it means to rule the Court of the Blade in the Empire of the Boroughs. The Empire of Sages The Empress of Blades had walked the paths of other Shadows. She had dined with the Courts of Blood. Made war with the Children of the Moon. She even wrestled wisdom from the Fallen Kings of Atlantis. The other Emperors saw wisdom in this and thus their Empires were run by Sages. In the Empire of Sages the Fox found it hard to concentrate. She wanted to be Honorable. But Honor required a single focus. The time under the Shadow Dragon's Hunt made single focus hard. New things were always the way. The Empress of Blade accepted this. The Suffering Emperor offered only pain to the Fox. He said pain would drive the Dragon away to never take her back. That if she had nothing it would have nothing to take from her. She agreed, but if she had nothing to take was that really living? The Serpent King offered to let her work in his Kingdom. To pay her way up. To put others in her debt.. yet always be in his. There is no freedom in that. The Fire Queen said only to simply Be and that is what the Fox Did. The Patchwork Man and the Pilgrimage of Iron In time the Fox became a Princess and a Sage. She learned the Omen was no Myth, Of those who tried to take the power of the Vermilion bird with their blasphemous tinctures, of the men in black suits that should have protected the Fox from the Shadow Dragon and yet would now hunt her. But those were little things, passing stories. The Patchwork Man sworn to Iron. He was different. One upon a time there was a man who died. Then another one did. Then another one. So many people died for that is the way of things. There was a patchwork man who wanted a patchwork child. So he took the best parts from all those people who died and made his patchwork child. Such is the way of patchwork men. Now that Patchwork child could make no contract with the Earth. It rebuked him. He could make no contract with man or beast for they hated him. But metals they made Contracts with Patchwork men. He tried Gold. He tried copper, he tried silver. He learned much from Silver. He finally moved to Iron. Now the Fox had gotten complacent, she thought the Dragon feared too greatly the Empress of Blades. So when the Dragon came to take her from the Earth she had little recourse. This is where the Patchwork man came in. The lessons of Silver had taught him to see the world beyond the Mask. The teachings of Iron taught him to Fight. The Patchwork man and the Fox sent the Dragon home once more. The Fox had not seen a Patchwork man before. No other sage had stories of Patchwork Men. She followed and questioned him. Try as he might the Patchwork Man could not get her to leave. He told her slowly the ways of Patchwork Men. How Patchwork Men were made by Patchwork Men. How Patchwork Men must follow Contracts with the Metals to gain power. Of How Patchwork men walk the Earth to gain a Soul. Only when Patchwork men had souls and were real men would the Earth Accept them. He told the Fox that because he had no soul in time she would hate him. The way of the Brush is impulse, and she swore with impulse to not hate him. She swore she would follow the Patchwork Man and be his friend until the Patchwork man gained his soul. So the Fox and the Patchwork man left the Empire of Sages and wandered the Earth, righting wrongs. Learning valuable Lessons, staying ahead of angry mobs. They followed the paths written by Angels and deciphered their clues. Then at last the Patchwork man won his soul. Angels are Kind and Cruel. There is much suffering in being a Patchwork Man. So when he stopped being a Patchwork man the Angels took his pain, they took his memories. He was just a man, and he forgot the Fox for the Fox was part of the Patchwork Man's story, not the Man's. The South Does not Abide the Winter The Fox had not been among her own kind in so long. She had met some while walking with the Patchwork man for sure. She had passed stories with Sun Crowned Kings, and Nightly Queens of those who found solace in the Seasons and far stranger things like the Court of Hellish Angels. She had not however lived with them. So she decided to follow the ways of the Hedge, she was more prepared than the last time she was alone, in case the Dragon came. Instead came the Winter Guard. Every Court has its Leg-breakers, the Winter court is no exception. So when the Fox found her way to the Trod. Presuming for whatever reason goes through ogre heads.. when and if it ever does that the Fox was not newly escaped from far off Arcadia. Said guard demanded to know why she was near the trod and what Court she held to. Normally now the Fox is a master of words. They are her brush the minds and hearts of others her Canvas. Perhaps this Ogre was too dumb for her art, perhaps it was just Fate. Her condescending explanation of her standing in the Court of the Phoenix did not go over well. Nor did her Kung Fu which while strong is not as strong as the ogre's Contracts. Now she was taken back to a private little holding facility for Changelings problems that the courts had no wish for Men to know about. And while she waited for the brainless ogre to find one of the Autumn to prove or disprove the Court of the Brush, the Fox spoke with her fellow captives, a pair sworn to nothing but their motley. They had been taken by men for unimportant crimes.. and on many occasions. The Fox told them many stories she knew, herown and others she told the pair of the ways of the Phoenix. They listened and their smiles slowly grew. What the Fox knew not was they were merely to be held until they accepted the ways of a Court, for the Ogres believed that a Court would force control on them. So the pair continued to question the Fox on details, slowly but surely learning the Oaths to say unto the God of the South. Thus they spoke them. The Crown and the Brush Three is the number of Changelings needed to Grant power to a Court. Three is the Number by which one is Crowned. This is why when the Lord of Autumn came into Winter's prison led by brainless Ogres he found not a Fox of dubious court as the Ogres claimed, but an Empress in Scarlet. Personality She is a creature of fast extremes, passions well up in her as she quickly finds new and interesting causes. Still she quickly makes fast friends and as best she can she keeps up with them. Still New things are ever so interesting. Appearance Mask A 5'4 almost addicting Asian girl with emerald green eyes and shoulderlength silky black hair with an odd set of redish streaks in it. She's generally found in whatever clothes she can scrounge whatever she can get of course few people have problems offering her whatever she wants. She gives off an Enthusiasm that's infectious.. or addictive to those around her Mien Those who can see past her mask see he finery, her hair becomes bright red, her ears move to the top of her head becoming pointed and foxlike. From her rear snakes out a foxes tail. Unlike in her Mask she is dressed dramatically and impressively with a long flowing Kimono embroitered with marks of the pheonix. On her brow sits a crown form of vermilion feathers. Occsaionally as she walks a feather falls leaving a pleasureable warmth in her wake though they soon fade. Notes Crowned Monarch of the Southern Court. Attributes Physical () *'Strength:' ** *'Dexterity:' *** *'Stamina:' ** Mental () *'Intelligence:' ** *'Wits:' ** *'Resolve:' ** Social () *'Presence:' *** *'Manipulation:' ** *'Composure:' *** Skills Mental () *Academics:* *Computer: *Crafts: *Investigation: *Medicine: *Occult:*** *Politics: *Science: Physical () *Athletics:** *Brawl:*** *Drive: *Firearms: *Larceny: *Stealth: *Survival:** *Weaponry: Social () *Animal Ken:* *Empathy:*** *Expression:* *Intimidation: *Persuasion:*** *Socialize:* *Streetwise:* *Subterfuge:* Specialties Occult-Magic, Prometheans. Empathy-Emotion Brawl- Kung-fu Persuasion- Fast Talk Animal ken-Foxes Advantages and Derived Values *'Defense:' 2 *'Health:' 7 *'Initiative:' 5 *'Clarity:' 5 *'Speed:' 10 *'Willpower:' 5 *'Virtue:'Hope *'Vice:'Gluttony Merits Mantle(South) 5 Striking Good Looks 4 Changeling Template *'Seeming:'Beast *'Kith:'Coyote *'Court:'South *'Entitlement:'Lady Sage of the Unknown Reaches *'Blessings:'One Free Specialty on Animal Ken for related Species(Foxes), 8 again on all Animal Ken Rolls, may spend Glamour for Extra Dice for Presence and Composure. Any Willpower spent on Persuasion or Subterfuge adds +5, *'Curse:'Untrained penalty on mental skills is -4, no 10-again on rolls involving Intelligence. *'Wyrd:' 3 *'Glamour:' 12, 3 per turn Contracts Four Directions 1 Fang and Talon(Fox) 5 Imminent South 2 Bookkeeping Experience Point Expenditure Category:Exalted